American journal of preventive medicine
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Prepared (ready-to-eat) foods are sold in >90% of U.S. supermarkets, but little is known about their nutritional quality. This study examined trends in purchases of supermarket prepared foods and compared their nutritional profile with that of supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods. ⋯ Supply of and demand for supermarket prepared foods have grown substantially over time. These trends are concerning given these foods' overall poor nutritional quality.
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Snus, dissolvable, and traditional smokeless tobacco product use is often amalgamated in youth epidemiologic research despite differences across these products. Prevalence, trends, and correlates of U.S. youth use across different classes of oral tobacco products are unknown. ⋯ Differences in the epidemiology of oral tobacco use across product types among U.S. youth suggest that oral tobacco products should be disaggregated in future research and policy strategies.
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Recent research underscores the exceptionally young age distribution of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. compared with that of international peers. This paper characterizes how high levels of COVID-19 mortality at midlife ages (45-64 years) are deeply intertwined with continuing racial inequity in COVID-19 mortality. ⋯ This discrepancy between vaccination and mortality patterning by race/ethnicity suggests that if the current period is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, it also remains a pandemic of the disadvantaged in ways that can decouple from vaccination rates. This result implies an urgent need to center health equity in the development of COVID-19 policy measures.
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Although religiosity is known to predict lower suicide risk among the general population, it is unclear how different aspects of religiosity such as religious beliefs and attendance are associated with suicide risk among sexual minorities relative to heterosexual populations. ⋯ Using population-based data, this study shows that the relationships between religiosity and suicide risk vary by sexual orientation and gender and that religious beliefs and religious attendance are differentially associated with suicide risk among sexual minorities. Future research should continue to explore how various aspects of religious participation may influence the mental health of diverse sexual minority communities.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain released in 2016 had led to decreases in opioid prescribing. This study sought to examine chronic and sustained high-dose prescription opioid use in an integrated health system. ⋯ Implementing evidence-based prescribing guidelines was associated with a decrease in chronic and sustained high-dose prescription opioid use.